2003 Lord of the Rings III


The Return of the King.


For a collection of all the miniature sheets released with this issue,


         The third and final movie was released in December 2003. It had been a massive effort filming and producing three great movies like that. Peter Jackson, with his team, had done an amazing job. He was looked upon as a hero in this small country of New Zealand.       
          The films showed the world what New Zealand was capable of doing. They also promoted the country by displaying some of our beautiful scenery and attracting tourists to come here. In 2017, the movie set Hobbiton, is still a major tourist attraction.



Legolas - 40c
Legolas (Orlando Bloom), an Elf of the Woodland Realm, was numbered among the Fellowship that set forth from Rivendell in the first movie until they split during the battle when attacked by orgs from Isengard. Now in this final movie, the three friends, Legolas, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), race to save Gondor and in doing so all of the free Middle-earth. 

                                  
 Frodo - 80c
The Hobbit, Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) inherits the ring of power from his uncle Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm).  Now in this third movie, the fate of all Middle-earth rests with Frodo and his companion Sam (Sean Astin), as they approach the land of Mordor, home of the Dark Lord Sauron, and Mount Doom where the ring must be destroyed.




Merry and Pippin - 90c
The young Hobbits Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd) are almost overwhelmed by the scale of the dangers around them. In such hard times and against such great odds, it is hard to imagine what difference they can make. Yet their hearts are strong - their only wish is to help their friends and do what they can in their aid.



Aragorn - $1.30
The last descendant of ancient kings, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) is fated to claim the long-empty throne of Gondor in Minas Tirith, should he prove himself worthy. It is a future he never wanted. Aragorn's true heart's longing is not for glory in war, nor riches or power, but only for the love of Arwen (Liv Tyler), daughter of Elrond (Hugo Weaving).

                         

Gandalf - $1.50
As the spectre of darkness grows over Middle-earth and Sauron's armies issue forth from the Black Gates to lay siege to the lands of Men, Gandalf (Ian McKellen) knows that in this war, victory cannot be won by force of arms alone. All hope now rests with the success of Frodo's quest, and to that end, the White Wizard marshals the forces of the free peoples in a desperate bid to distract Sauron's gaze from his own lands.



Gollum - $2.00
Named for the foul gurgle he makes in this throat, Gollum (Andy Serkis) is a pitiable and wretched creature, enslaved by his desire for the One Ring.  He had once been a hobbit-like creature called Sméagol until he found the ring. His need for it drives him relentlessly, corrupting his mind and twisting his tiny body into a mangled, sinewy echo of his former self.



Gollum in the movies is a Computer-generated imagery (CGI) character voiced and performed by an actor (Andy Serkis.) The character was built around Serkis' facial features, voice, and acting choices. Serkis based the iconic "Gollum" throat noise on the sound of his cat coughing up hairballs. Weta Digital animators created Gollum's performance using a mixture of motion capture data recorded from Serkis and the traditional animation process of Keyframe.


Perforation Error.

2003 40c Lord of the Rings - Legolas (Orlando Bloom), an Elf of the Woodland Realm.
 Pair with major misplaced double perforations. First, there is a horizontal perf running across each stamp at a slight angle. Second, there is a short vertical perf in the top-left corner of each stamp.  

Technical information:-

Date of Issue:
6 November 2003
Designer:
Frans Lenzen, CommArts Design, Wellington, New Zealand
Printer:
Southern Colour Print, New Zealand
Stamp Size:
25mm x 50mm (gummed), 26mm x 37mm (self-adhesive)
Sheet Size:
25 stamps
Process:
Lithography
Perforation Gauge:             
14.25 x 14
Paper Type:
De La Rue 103gsm red phosphor coated (gummed)


Some of the images in this post were used with permission from the illustrated catalogue of StampsNZ
You can visit their website and On-line Catalogue at, http://stampsnz.com/